Cell C Sharks vs Blues

Feb 21 • General News, Super Rugby, Super Rugby News • 1467 Views • Comments Off on Cell C Sharks vs Blues

Date:	Saturday, 23 February 2019
Time:	15h05
Venue:	Jonsson Kings Park
Referee:	Paul Williams (NZ)
Assistant Referees:	Cwengile Jadezweni, Griffon Colby (SA)
Television Match Official:	Marius Jonker (SA)

The Cell C Sharks get our home campaign for the 2019 Vodacom Super Rugby competition off to a challenging start when we host the Blues at JONSSON KINGS PARK this Saturday.

The starting line-up to take on the New Zealand side remains unchanged from last week’s team selected to play the Sunwolves in a piece of good fortune for the Cell C Sharks – after all, continuity in playing personnel is the key to success – while this match sees the return of Thomas du Toit, in for Khutha Mchunu and Curwin Bosch for Rhyno Smith, both changes effected on the bench.

“We were very happy with last week’s win against a quality side that will upset a few teams this year, but now we’re looking ahead to the Blues,” explains Cell C Sharks flyhalf Robert du Preez.

“We played some exciting rugby and some brutal rugby, especially the front row that laid the platform for the rest of the team and we were able to score some lovely tries thanks to the hard work from the forwards.”

Looking back at recent history, the Cell C Sharks had a very successful run against Kiwi teams last year and while that suggests that we won’t ever underestimate New Zealand opposition for obvious reasons, it’s important that the headspace of the team remains like that against all teams. It was clear that last week against the Sunwolves, there was no shortage of intent or focus.

“The opposition brings the best out of you, we knew these would be really big games, but we have to change our mindset around this – we can’t be up for a Kiwi game and not get up for an Aussie game.

“We will look to build on what we did last year, but this is a new year, they’re a new team and we expect a good battle out there on Saturday.”

Coming back to the term ‘continuity’, while the Blues offer a completely different challenge to what the Cell C Sharks had against the Sunwolves, this week it’s a case of ‘more of the same’ as far as the intensity and physicality the team delivered last week.

And they will acknowledge how close the Blues came to beating the Crusaders last week.
Which all makes for a mouth-watering clash between the two sides.

Cell C Sharks
15. Aphelele Fassi
14. Sbu Nkosi
13. Lukhanyo Am
12. Andre Esterhuizen
11. Makazole Mapimpi
10. Robert du Preez
9. Louis Schreuder (c)
8. Daniel du Preez
7. Tyler Paul
6. Jacques Vermeulen
5. Ruan Botha
4. Hyron Andrews
3. Coenie Oosthuizen
2. Akker van der Merwe
1. Tendai Mtawarira

Replacements
16. Kerron van Vuuren
17. Juan Schoeman
18. Thomas du Toit
19. Gideon Koegelenberg
20. Phepsi Buthelezi
21. Cameron Wright
22. Jeremy Ward
23. Curwin Bosch

Home Matchday Ticket Prices
Western Lower – R130
All other stands – R100
Scholars – R50 (all zones except the gold zone)

Tickets can be purchased via The Sharks Ticket Office or www.sharksrugby.co.za.
Season tickets are still available for the 2019 rugby season starting from just R950.